NPCB suc­cumb to champs Rwanda Po­lice in East and Cen­tral Africa Club show

Na­tional Ce­re­als and Pro­duce Board men’s team lost 29-32 to cham­pi­ons Rwanda Po­lice as the East and Cen­tral Africa Club Cham­pi­onship en­tered sec­ond day at the Nyayo Sta­dium yes­ter­day.

The an­nual event, which has at­tracted four men’s teams in­clud­ing hosts NCPB, Black Mamba, Kenya De­fence Force and Rwanda Po­lice will be played on round-robin for­mat. The match be­gun on a low note but gained mo­men­tum in the first 10 min­utes of play as the visi­tors en­joyed a one-point lead 10-9. NCPB’s poor ball han­dling skills cost them as they trailed 13-11. Jean Habi­mana scored at will, thanks to his fast breaks as Rwanda ex­tended lead 15-13 and 1716 go­ing into the breather.

On re­sump­tion, NCPB re-grouped with their de­fence stand­ing firm to deny the visi­tors a chance to score. The in­tro­duc­tion of John Wante and Bon­ven­ture Kaduka in the open­ing min­utes of the sec­ond half, made all the dif­fer­ence for the NCPB as their good com­bi­na­tion up-front saw them tie with their op­po­nents 25-25.

From there, it a see-saw but it was the visi­tors who had an up­per hand, thanks to fast breaks from Felix Mukanzi to squeze a 29-28 lead be­fore win­ning the match 32-29.